new rule, entreated that they might be allowed to remove into Canada or Cape Breton; and offered to swear full allegiance to the British sovereign, if permitted to remain, only excepting bearing arms against their countrymen and the Indians. But a cruel policy, fearing to strengthen the other French colonies, prevented the authorities from acceding to either of these requests, and Colonel Winslow, without any intimation of his purpose, summoned the Acadians to appear before him at Grand Pré. About four hundred men, who complied with this requisition, were imprisoned in the church at that place, and, to their consternation, were informed that all their lands and flocks were confiscated, and that they and their families were to be transported to the British colonies. At this time, the stationary population of Acadia amounted to about twenty thousand, who were living in ease and prosperity on their farms, when thus ruthlessly summoned to exile and separation. On learning the terrible decree, "many of them," says Mr. McGregor, "fled to the woods, and joined the Indians; others found their way to Canada, and to the island of St. John's, near Prince Edward's. The settlements at Chignecto and Minas were subjected to conflagration; and all their villages and farms laid waste, and their houses and churches reduced to ashes. The wretched inhabitants, deprived of food or shelter, were obliged to surrender, or fly to the woods, in order to escape finally to Canada, the island of St. John's or Cape Breton. Some found their way to, and established themselves in Hayti and Louisiana. From seven to eight thousand surrendered at discretion; and Colonel Winslow, in sending them away from a country to which they were so much attached, acted with far more kindness and delicacy than his orders strictly allowed. Their treatment in the southern colonies, to which they were transported, was cruel and undeserved; they experienced the treatment, not of prisoners of war, but of condemned convicts. Several families found their way to France, where they arrived utterly destitute." In an affecting, but, it is almost needless to say futile, memorial to the British sovereign, (George III.,) the exiled Acadians, from their places of banishment, stated the inhumanity of their treatment, their conscientious scruples as to the required oath, and besought redress. "Thus," they conclude, "we, our ancient parents and grand-parents, (men of great integrity, and approved fidelity to your majesty,) and our innocent wives and children, became the unhappy victims of those groundless fears; we were transported into the English colonies, and this was done with so much haste, and so little regard to our necessities and the tenderest ties of nature, that, from the most social enjoyments and affluent circumstances, many found themselves destitute of the necessaries of life; parents were separated from children, and husbands from wives, some of whom have not, to this day, met again; and we were so crowded in the transport-vessels that we had not room even for all our bodies to lie down at once, and consequently were prevented from carrying with us proper necessaries, especially for the comfort and support of the aged and weak, many of whom quickly ended their misery with their lives; and even those among us who had suffered most deeply from your majesty's enemies, on account of their attachment to your majesty's government, were equally involved in the common calamity-of which René Leblanc, the notary public, before mentioned, is a remarkable instance: he was seized, confined, and brought away among the rest of the people, and his family, consisting of twenty children and about an hundred and fifty grand-children, were scattered in different colonies;-so that he was put ashore at New York, with only his wife and two youngest children, in an infirm state of health, from whence he joined three more of his children at Philadelphia, where he died, without any more notice being taken of him than of us, notwithstanding his many years' labour and deep sufferings for your majesty's service. "The miseries we have since endured are scarce sufficiently to be expressed, being reduced, for a livelihood, to toil and hard labour in a southern clime, so disagreeing with our constitutions that most of us have been prevented by sickness from obtaining the necessary subsistence for our families, and are therefore threatened with that which we esteem the greatest aggravation of all our sufferings, even of having our children forced from us, and bound out to strangers, and exposed to contagious distempers, unknown in our native country. "This, compared with the ease and affluence we enjoyed, shows our condition to be extremely wretched. We have already seen, in this province of Pennsylvania, two hundred and fifty of our people, which is more than half the number that were landed here, perish through misery and various diseases. In this great distress and misery, we have, under God, none but your majesty to look to, with hopes of relief and redress. We, therefore, hereby implore your gracious protection, and request you may be pleased to let the justice of our complaints be truly and impartially inquired into, and that your majesty would please to grant us such relief, as in your justice and clemency you shall think our case requires, and we shall hold ourselves bound to pray," &c. This simple, truthful, and touching appeal, with others of the like character, availed them nothing with the heartless and obstinate sovereign to whom it was addressed. Great numbers perished in the southern colonies, and such as were finally suffered to return, found their ancient homes in the possession of the invaders. Such was the tragical fate of a community, the most remarkable for its quiet prosperity, for its innocent enjoyment, and for its patriarchal simplicity of manners, perhaps ever known in history, and almost realizing the fabled happiness of the ancient Arcadia itself. If, as an historical event, its importance be comparatively small, the interest which invests all unmerited human misfortunes will yet keep the mournful facts in remembrance, and the fate of Acadia, familiarized and eternized by the genius of "Evangeline," will ever remain one of the most touching and memorable episodes in American annals. CAPE BRETON, ETC. CESSION OF THE FRENCH PROVINCES TO ENGLAND.-LOUISBURG BRAVE DEFENCE OF LOUISBURG: ITS SURRENDER AND THE early resort of the French fishermen to the bank of New foundland has been mentioned. On the island of the same name, at Placentia Bay, they made a small settlement, and were in the habit of frequenting other portions of the coast; but the whole, by the treaty of Utrecht, was ceded to Great Britain. The island of Cape Breton, (a name first applied by the early French voyagers to its eastern point, and afterwards extended to the whole,) was first settled in the year 1714, by some colonists from Newfoundland and Acadia, principally for convenience of fishing. By the treaty of Utrecht, in the following year, Acadia, Newfoundland, and other portions of "New France," were ceded to England; but Canada, Cape Breton, and St. John's island (Prince Edward's) were retained by the mother-country. These diminished possessions now assumed fresh importance in the eyes of the French; and especially with a view to commanding the mouth of the St. Lawrence and protecting the fisheries, it was determined to found a military post on Cape Breton. Accordingly, in the year 1720, the town and harbour of Louisburg were fortified, and were eventually made one of the most important strongholds of the French in all America. Its value to that people was great, especially from the commanding position which it occupied near the fisheries-in which, at some times, six hundred vessels and twentyeight thousand seamen were constantly employed. No pains or outlay was spared by the French government in providing for its strength and defence. "There is hardly a settlement," says a writer of the day, "that has been attended with more expense to the French nation than this of Louisburg. It is certain that they have laid out about thirty millions of livres; and so cogent were the motives which induced them to put this scheme into execution, that the preservation of Louisburg will always be considered as an object of too great importance not to sacrifice every thing to it. Cape Breton protects the whole French trade of North America, and is of equal consequence in regard to their commerce with the West Indies. If they had no settlement in this part of North America, their vessels, returning from St. Domingo or Martinique, would no longer be safe on the Great Bank of Newfoundland, particularly in time of war; lastly, as it is situated at the entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, it absolutely commands the river of that name." The English, continually engaged in warfare with their neighbours, were not long in making demonstrations against a place of such value to the enemy, and so easily accessible by sea. In 1745, a force of four thousand men, under command of Colonel William Pepperall, was dispatched against Louisburg from New England-a spirit of fanatical enmity to the French and to Catholicism being, it is said, one of the principal exciting causes. Their banner bore the legend, "Nil desperandum, Christo duce," supplied by the famous Whitfield; and a species of crusading spirit distinguished the expedition. This force, conveyed to the scene of action in transports, was joined by an English squadron, under Commodore Warren, who had just captured a French seventy-four, with a great supply of stores; and the whole armament, both naval and military, laid siege to Louisburg. On the 18th of June, after a brave resistance of forty-nine days, the garrison was compelled to surrender, and the English took possession of the town, with stores and merchandise of immense value. Some time afterwards, by hoisting the French flag, they decoyed into the harbour and captured several ships, richly laden, their value being estimated at several millions of dollars. St. John's (Prince Edward's) also fell into the hands of the English, and many of the inhabitants were transported to France. By the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, Cape Breton, in exchange for Madras, was restored to France, with which power it remained until the memorable expedition under Boscawen and Amherst, with Wolfe and Lawrence, in the year 1758. This armament, one of the most powerful ever dispatched to America, consisted of twenty-three ships of the line, eighteen frigates, and sloops |